when would you replace captains?

at the start of the game, at barca, puyol is captain and xavi is vice captain.

i find a good player who i think has the right stuff to replace puyol as my permanent captain for years to come, as hes a good 6 years younger than puyol as was the club captain of another european giant.

the first year hes not suitable as he doesnt speak the language and new to the club, so i made him my vice captain to "ease him in" to the role.

in the 2nd season, puyol is still in my first choice defender so i dont want to annoy him by ditching him as captain but i'd be prepared to demote him to vice captain for years of loyalty to the club, and also since stats for people over 30 in fm09 dont decline so quickly.

what do i do?

In my experience changing captain can ruin a player at your club making him deeply upset and want to leave. so take it really slow when deciding.

If Puyol is still playing regularly and your team is doing well there's not really much reason to change the captaincy unless the new guys leadership stats are superior. I'd hold off until Puyol is likely to be just a squad player or less.

I'd wait until you feel you have a solid captain that can take over that will be a success.

still going to avoid player naming but i think hes solid enough, hes runs my midfield, covers the back 4 and all my play goes through him, he finished with a 7.24 rating for the season with 13 goals, 12 assists in all competitions.

from what i can see, hes got higher determination/influence but his workrate and teamwork are 2 less, not sure about the hidden stats as i dont look at those. puyol is listed as "determined/continental" whereas this guy is "leader/world class midfielder."

is there anything other than influence (and determination) that i should be looking out for? not hidden stats, if its not in the game, i feel no need to load up an editor to find out.

He might be better, he might be worse - it's one of those fun things you have to choose and hope for the best based on your instincts!

im lucky, end of second season Pogatetz has accepted a bosman to another team...upsteps Thiago Silva

I wouldnt risk it tbh....

Another thing to consider would be this potential new captain's standing within the dressing room. Are there many other players in your first team that have him listed as one of their favoured personnel in this short span of time he has spent with your club? If there are indeed many, and you are still giving Puyol the role of Club Vice-Captain, then there might not be any serious repercussions.

If it were down to me though, I would give it another season and review this player's contributions to your team at the end of it. His first season might be great but he might also turn in poor performances in the second and not deserve the Captain's armband.

i dont change it right away, if i have fazed the player out of the first team then il change captain

It's tricky; my captain and vice-captain are both the oldest members of my squad. They are both DCs and starting to slow up. I'm going to have to pull the lever at some point - I'm dreading the reaction.

I've never seen a problem when a player who has been vice captain has been changed to full captain as long as he's spent at least a year as vice captain and the change is done in the off-season when you get asked about it.

When they get old,or are playing poorly or have left the club

Also depends on the current captains mental attributes.

He might take it well and continue performing great for you.

hmm i'll go play my hull game and mull it over for a while, the last thing i need is a barca team who arent getting along because of the captaincy change.

there are a few who are "feels X is a vital part of the team" but a fair few of "thinks puyol organises the defense well" --then again, im seeing a lot of "thinks xavi is a vital part of the team" and there was no big fuss kicked up when he was replaced as VC by a new signing.

like captainplanet, i wouldnt promote someone new to captain, they have to spend at least a year as a VC first before considering it.

Do it, and if it goes badly, reload

I would keep Puyol as captain until he doesn't play many games for you. This will also benefit the new lad because it will give him more time to adapt to how Barcelona play, and he will have better relationships with your other players.

I normally keep the Captain who is there at the beginning of the game, and he stays on as Captain until he retires, and then the Vice steps in the role, and i then choose him a new Vice-Captain...

Usually I always replace captain on my first season in charge and sell anyone who becomes unhappy with the decision. I know that's not always the best decision but I pick the team and nobody can contradict me on my team.

inf and the other attribute (cant remember off top of head) arent the ones i use to determine my capt and vice capt.

i generally for 1st season keep current 2 then next season i choose who's worked the most during the season. i get a few players moaning with stuff like i should have been capt or **** would have been a better choice, but that soon passes and they get used to the new one.

I wouldn't risk changing it as long as Puyol is playing. He is obviously still a very good captain and the fact that he has been at the club so long and so i reckon the chances of upsetting people outweigh the benfits.

Does anyone know how much of an effect it has on on pitch perfomances, surely this world class midfielder, your vice-captain has plenty of influence in a match already for it not to make a massive change to the play.

Take Man U for example, say if Rio, Scholes, Giggs, Rooney are all playing, they are all influential and do you think the players are really that bothered which one is captain.

I ussualy keep the captain of my club captain for about 3 seasons or somthing by then he ussualy getting past his best and i have signed or brought through a player who i think has a better infulence and abilitys to be captain by then it ussualy goes down.

never change in my first season although sometimes i do change the vice captain. i am currently playing as swansea and my captain doesnt play i just dont rate him but i didnt want to strip him of the captaincy as soon as i took over incase it gave a bad infulence or somthing.

depends if your a big/small club for me

if your a big club, I'd stick with the captain for a good few seasons and maybe appoint my future captain as a vice captain for a couple of seasons before giving him the full job. Unless your Arsenal of course, then you need a replacement asap

I don't replace my captains.

The only times I have done so, was when I sold both Dunne and Richards, in the same window.

Elected Palombo and Wright-Phillips as Captain and Vice, respectively.

Then I sold both Palombo and Wright-Phillips, 6 months later.

Put Gareth Barry and and Christian Zapata as Captain and Vice respectively...

I only replace captains when I sell my current Capitano.

if a player is not the captain will he stil have the same infulence? i just dont see what so special about it it justs seems a nice cosmetic feature.

if a player is not the captain will he stil have the same infulence? i just dont see what so special about it it justs seems a nice cosmetic feature.

I think it makes a difference. I rotate my sizable first team squad quite a bit with no adverse effects, but when I drop my captain and vice-captain and replace them with technically better back-ups, the team never performs well. Also, I've noticed that if my captain is prone to being unprofessional or dirty, the team as a whole picks up a lot more cards.

To avoid the risk of upsetting my team I didnt replace my aging captain when i got promoted, even though it was clear he would never play. Instead, I simply made sure the th right man was vice captain and he would lead the team more often than not.

At the end of the season, the old man retired and the young pretender took his throne.

All things considered, I would stick with the system you have (i.e. Puyol as captain and player X as vice)

i changed mine and was straightforward - Scott Parker was captain Matt Upson vice-captain, scott parker has personal problems that wont go away sent him away twice he is playing poorly so i stripped him of his captaincy - no fuss everyone accepted it, infact there wasnt any reaction............. but thats not too similar to this situation

I just took over Valencia in 1016 and Riou had the highest influence so i selecte dhim as captain, but he has been awful. I just dropped him and let my vice take over.

Puyol should be Barca captian until he retires, just like in real life. When I played as Barca I tried to select people who were born in or close to Barcelona, but that was just me.

I just took over Valencia in 1016 and Riou had the highest influence so i selecte dhim as captain, but he has been awful. I just dropped him and let my vice take over.

That is pretty awesome.Are the Mayans a dominant force ?

i think i'll stay faithful and keep puyol as captain and leave player X as my vice captain.

sort of like the current spurs situation where ledley king is the official "club captain" but because hes out so much, robbie keane is taking over as "team captain" so if puyol is later on dropped because of his advancing years affecting his stats or his leadership stats start to drop, i can drop him from the team and let player X take over.

I'll be keeping Nolan as my captain at Bolton, but I want to change the vice-captain from Kevin Davies as he won't be featuring much in the first team. What should I look for in terms of negative feedback? He's turning 33, will he understand?

I'll be keeping Nolan as my captain at Bolton, but I want to change the vice-captain from Kevin Davies as he won't be featuring much in the first team. What should I look for in terms of negative feedback? He's turning 33, will he understand?

It is impossible to find out beforehand what Kevin Davies' reaction (or those of his team-mates) will be, but chances are his morale will suffer a dip the moment you remove his Vice-captaincy. However, if his replacement is more than worthy to take over and enjoys the admiration of his fellow players in the squad, it will not be a bad thing to switch, seeing as you do not consider Davies to be an important first team player anymore.

In my Grays Athletic one i have had Jon Ashton as my captain since the start of my career in BSP and im now in League 1 he is a good player always rated 7 or above and knows the club well.. I then have someone who is good at influence and determined as vice captain obvious Jon Ashton is still good at influence and determenation.

Don't worry about it. Even if there is a backlash it will only last for a few games. Do it at the start of the season and they'll be over it in no time. Just make sure your new captain is an adequate replacement.